The Alupka Park and Palace Museum-Preserve was created in 1990 and is now subordinate to the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Crimea. The Museum-Preserve consists of the Vorontsov Museum-Palace, the Alupka Park (an authentic imperial park and a work of art), and the Museum-Palace of Alexander III in Massandra. The Massandra Palace was constructed in two stages: first, in 1881-1892, to a design by architect Étienne Bouchard, and then, in 1892-1902, to a design by Maximilan Messmacher. Messmacher changed the original design in favor of a more ornate style. In its final version, the Massandra Palace is designed to resemble the early baroque palaces of Louis XIII of France. Meanwhile, the interior decoration of the palace shows a stylistic potpourri of neoromanesque, neogothic, baroque, rococo, and neoclassical elements.
Each room of the palace has a unique style, brought to life by Messmacher’s pupils as well as the students of Baron von Stieglitz’s Central School of Technical Drawing in Saint Petersburg.
A suite of rooms leads the visitors from the Emperor’s State Reception room to the private Bedroom, from the elegant Empress’s Living Room to the State Dining Room. The State Dining Room is one of the best interiors of the palace, stylized to resemble an ancient knight’s hall. The opulent furnishing of the rooms includes different types of wood carving, complex relief sculpting, majolica tiles, decorative wood panels painted with watercolors, and fireplaces embellished with marble carved mantels and their fireboxes lined with red and yellow copper.
In 1992, a museum was established in the Palace of Alexander III in Massandra. Its first and second floors show a typical palace interior of the second half of the 19th century. Meanwhile, the halls of the third floor are occupied by permanent exhibitions.
Each room of the palace has a unique style, brought to life by Messmacher’s pupils as well as the students of Baron von Stieglitz’s Central School of Technical Drawing in Saint Petersburg.
A suite of rooms leads the visitors from the Emperor’s State Reception room to the private Bedroom, from the elegant Empress’s Living Room to the State Dining Room. The State Dining Room is one of the best interiors of the palace, stylized to resemble an ancient knight’s hall. The opulent furnishing of the rooms includes different types of wood carving, complex relief sculpting, majolica tiles, decorative wood panels painted with watercolors, and fireplaces embellished with marble carved mantels and their fireboxes lined with red and yellow copper.
In 1992, a museum was established in the Palace of Alexander III in Massandra. Its first and second floors show a typical palace interior of the second half of the 19th century. Meanwhile, the halls of the third floor are occupied by permanent exhibitions.
